September 20 2009
It’s Choice Not Chance
Joshua 24:14-15
Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision! (Joel 3:14) I sometimes think of myself as “Mr. Indecision” as I bounce back and forth between, “Do I or Don’t I?” … “Should I or Shouldn’t I?” … “Will I or Won’t I?” However I’ve made a couple million decisions, and I like to think that my job (calling) is to help people, like you make good decisions.
I recall a man named Joe Ice early in my ministry when I was green behind the ears. Joe was dying of cancer and I had visited him on several occasions sharing the Gospel with him. Joe’s reply to me every time was, “Preacher I appreciate you visiting me but I can’t be saved. Wish I could, but I can’t.” I talked myself blue in the face sharing scripture and stories with this man … “thief on the cross” … “workers in the field being paid the same” … all in an attempt to help Joe choose to believe, but to no avail.
On one occasion when visiting Joe he had a friend there who after I invited Joe again to confess and believe, said to me. “You know what Joe and I believe in?” Curiosity had me so I asked, “What is it you and Joe believe in?” Joe’s friend with a wide grin across his face said, “We believe in gambling! We like winning money! That’s what we believe in, isn’t it Joe?” In one of those God ordained moments I said, “Are you willing to gamble with your life? If what I am telling you (Gospel) is true and you don’t believe, you lose your life and the payoff is hell and eternal punishment. And if I’m wrong, well then it doesn’t matter. But what if I am right?” Joe’s friend replied, “Well I guess I will just have to take that chance.” Neither Joe nor his friend to my knowledge ever believed and a few weeks after this encounter Joe died.
How about you? Are you taking a chance on eternity, or are you choosing eternity? Do the choices you make reflect the eternity in your heart? (Eccl 3:11 He has put eternity in their hearts)
Everything you do is the result of a choice you have made, and though each of us makes literally thousands of daily decisions, there are 2 decisions you make every day that impact on the present as well as the future.
#1 … Decision of Life or Death … growing or dying (no coasting) … “choose life” (Deut 30:19)
#2 … Decision of Discipline or Regret … good choices -vs- bad choices … its “I’m glad I did” or “I wish I had or hadn’t”
Life, discipline, death and regret are decisions we have to actively choose each day. So choose wisely!
Listen to words of Joshua to Israel … they speak to “choosing” life and discipline.
Joshua 24:14-15 (ESV) “Now therefore fear the Lord and serve him in sincerity and in faithfulness. Put away the gods that your fathers served beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the Lord. 15 And if it is evil in your eyes to serve the Lord, choose this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your fathers served in the region beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”
Joshua is “old and well advanced in years … about to go the way of the earth” … however he was not about to let chance be the deciding factor for the future … but rather choice.
Here’s the point …
“LEAD YOUR FUTURE BY CHOICE, NOT CHANCE”
Joshua speaks to the “faithfulness” of God and how He had “CHOSEN” … “DELIVERED” … “GUIDED” … “GAVE” … them … therefore there was no reason not to follow and serve Him, other than making bad choices.
Joshua reminds them of their …
- PAST … their fathers served other gods.
- PRESENT … dwelling in the land of the Amorites & their gods
- FUTURE … not to forsake the one true God
With those reminders Joshua challenges them “CHOOSE THIS DAY WHOM YOU WILL SERVE.”
Joshua knew to choose to serve the past or what is presently surrounding them is living by “chance” … in the unknown, the unpredictable that deals in the land of probabilities. You know … “This will probably happen so this I choose to serve.”
Joshua then looking upon the people knowing they are suspect to idolatry says … But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”
Joshua exemplifies for us: “A man dedicated to God can be mightily used.”
“LEAD YOUR FUTURE BY CHOICE, NOT CHANCE”
The challenge Joshua poses is so very contemporary and applicable.
We too live in a land of the gods of …
- consumerism … consumed with more and more
- materialism … obtaining the material is priority
- pleasure … lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God (2 Tim 3:4)
- knowledge … puffs up (1 Cor 8:1)
- traditions … lay aside the Word of God (Mark 7:8-9) … etc.
The tendency is “SERVE SELF” is so deep seated in us isn’t it? And in this world of duplicity what is needed is “personal responsibility” for our choices, behavior and actions. Decisions don’t make themselves; you and I have to choose to make them.
- Obedience in sincerity and in faithfulness to God is crucial to your future.
- Separation … put away other gods is essential to your future.
- Serving … serve the Lord is foremost to your future.
Let us look around us … for not only who we might serve, but who we might show our serving God to as an example.
- Parents … serve the Lord for your children’s future.
- Grandparents … serve the Lord for your grandchildren.
“CHOOSE THIS DAY WHOM YOU WILL SERVE.”
God is asking each of us this morning … “Who are you going to serve … those gods or Me the one true God who has been with you in the past, is with you today, and will be with you tomorrow?”
As the people of God we cannot leave the future to chance, we must choose today to serve God.
“LEAD YOUR FUTURE BY CHOICE, NOT CHANCE”
Amen!
